The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-02-12
THE REV. DR.. TALMAGE'S DIS
COURSE.
Martyrs Of the Church Found
in Many Centuries.
Millions Slain for the Sake Of the
Lord of Hosts.
Blessings Of Christianity Shown in Many
Ways.
Special 10 the Kansas City Tina,


many have changed places. This church COM
bines the two plans OF pew rental and free
church. The rented pews this year yield an
advance on all previous years, SO that the in
come will be about $32, 900. But about 1000
slttlngs are always kept free, so that no one
may complain that he can not worship here for
lack OF means. This morning Prof Browne
rendered an organ SOLO first sonata in ID
minor by Ritter, and the congregation sang
the hymn:
Our God, our help In ages past.
Our hope for years TO come.
The subject of the sermon was "Plllars OF
Smoke,n and the the text was taken from Sol
omons song, Ill.,, SO "Who is this that
cometh out of the wilderness like pillars Of
smokep DR.. Talmage said
The architecture of the smoke is wondruos,
whether God with his finger curls 1t into a
cloud, or rounds 1t into dome, or points 1t in
splre or spreads It in wing, or, as in the
text, hoists 1t in pillar. Watch 1t winding
up from the country farm house in the early
morning, showing that the pastoral industries
have begun; or see it ascending from the
chmneys of the city telling OF the homes fed,
che factories turning out valuable fabric the
printing presses preparing book and news
paper and all the ten thousand wheels Of
work In motion. On a clear day this yapor
spoken OF mounts with such buoyancy aud
spreads such delicate veil across the sky,
and traces such graceful lines OF circle and
semi.crclc, and waves, aud tosscs and sinks,
I'd scars, and scatters with such ailluence OF
XEapc aud color, and suggestyeness, that II
you have never noticed it you are like man
who has all his life lived in Paris and yet never
seen the Luxembourg, and all his life In Rome
and never seen the Vatican, and all his life Mt
Lockport and never seen Niagara. Forty-four
times the Bible speaks OF the smoke, and IL is
about time that somebody preached n sermon
recognizing this strange, weird beautiful,
elastic charming terrific and fascinating
yapor. Across the Bible sky floats the smoke
Of Sinai the smoke of Sodom, the smoke OF Al,
the smoke of the pit, the smoke OF the vol
canic hills when God touches them and In my
text the glorious church OF God coming up cut
OF the wilderness like pillars of smoke.
THE SMOKE OF MARTyRDoM.
In the first place, these pillars Of smoke in
my text indicate the suffering the church of
God has endured. What do | mean by the
churchi | mean not building not sect,
but those who In all ages and all lands, and of
all beliefs, love God and are trying to do
right. For many centuries the heavens have
been black with the smoke OF martyrdom. II
set side by side you could grdle the earth
with the fires of persecution. Rowland
TAYLOR burned at lladclgh; Latlmer burned
at oxford; John Rogers burned at smithfeld;
John Hooper burned at Gloucester; John
Huss burned at Constance; Lawrence Saun-
ders burned at Coventry; Joan Of Arc, burned
at Rouen. Proestants have sometimes
pointed 10 the Catholics as prosecutors, but
both Protestant and Catholic have practced
INF ha AT urip ba
reign Of HunnerIc were by Protcstants put to
the worst torures, stripped OF their clothing,
hoisted In the air by pulleys with weights
suspended from their feet, then let down, and
ears and eyes, nose aud tongue were
amputated and red hot plates OF iron were
put against the tenderest part OF their bodies
George Bancroft, the historian, says OF the
state Of Maryland: 'In the land which
Catholics have opened the protestants mass
might not be said publicly; no Catholic
priest or bishop might utter his faith in u
voice Of persuasion; no Catholic might teach
the young. IL Maynard child OF Il baptist
would but become an apostate the law
wrested for him from his parents share Of
their1 property. Such were the methods
adopted 10 prevent the growth Of popery."
Speaking Of Ireland, Bancroft, the historian,
says: ''Such priests rs were permitted TO re-
sidt in Ireland were required TO be registered,
aud were kept liAe prisoners AT Large within
prescribed limits. All paplists exercising &C.
clestias Teal Jurisdiction, all monks, frars and
regular priests, and all priests not then actual
ly In the parishes aud to be registered were
banished from Ireland under pain OF transpor-
ton and, ON return, OF being hanged, drawn
and quartercd.h
PROSECUTIONS IN ALL sEcTS
Catholicism as well as Professionalism has had
its martyrs. IL does seem as II when any one
sect got complete dominancy In any laud the
devil OF persecution and cruelty took posses
sion OF the sect. Then see the Catholics after
the Huguenots. See the Gentiles after the |
Jews In Tourane, where great pit was dug
and lire lighted at the bottom OF the pit, and
100 Jewish victims were consumed. See the
PRESBYTERIAN parliament OF England, more
tyranncal In their treatment OF opponents
than had been the criminal courts. Persecu-
tion against the Bapiists by Pseudo Baptists !
Persecution of the established church against |
the Methodist church. Persecution against |
the Quakers. Persecution a9anst the Prcsby- |
terians. Under Emperor Diocletian $4,000 |
Christians were mastered, and 100000 more |
OF them died from Punishment and exposure. |
Witness the sufferings Of the Wilderness, of |
st. Bsriholonew's massacre. Witness the |
duke Of Alva driving out OF life 5000 Christ |
ians. Witness Herod. aud Nero aud Decius, |
aud Hilderbrand, and Torquemada, and earl |
Of Montfort, and Lord Claverhouse, who, |
when told that he must give account for his |
cruelties, aid: IL have no need TO account TO |
man, and as for God | will take Him in my |
own hands" A red line runs through the |
church history Of nineteen hundred years, a |
line OF blood. Not by the hundreds OF thous- |
ands, but by the millions must we count those |
slaIn for Christ sfake. No wonder John Nil |
ton put the groans Of the martyrs TO an i'm |
mortal tune, writing:
Avenge. o.Lord thy slaughtered saints whose
lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold.
The smoke Of martyrs homes and martyrs
bodies II rolling up all at once would have
eclIpsef the MONDAY sun and turned the